Unhappy Endings
by obi's girl
Summary: Killian makes it to Manhattan, ready to exact his revenge on Rumpelstiltskin but stops when he sees a depressed Emma and invites her to have a drink with him. Disclaimer: Once Upon a Time characters are property of Disney and Adam Horowitz, Edward Kitsis. This fanfic is for pure entertainment.


Hook's on a mission: find his crocodile and skin him. He thought that Cora would allow him his revenge but shock, she betrayed him and left with Regina to find the Dark One's dagger leaving him behind.

After finally regaining consciousness and getting knocked out for the second or third time, he can't remember, he finds his way out of Storybrooke and eventually, to the city of Manhattan.

Now, he's walking down an alley, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.

He thought he's picked up the crocodile's trail but after confronting the man that he thought was him but was  
actually someone else, he stopped stalking and reconsidered his plan.

Hook spots Emma while sitting alone in a random alley he picked to contemplate his next move; she's distracted and clearly worried about something. He thinks about leaving her be but then he thinks, it probably isn't a coincidence that she happened to be in the same alley as he. He walks towards her and once he gets closer, he whistles in her direction, forcing her to look up at him.

He smiles at her and she sighs defeatedly, stalking over to him.

"What the hell are you doing here Hook?" she growls. "Is Cora with you?"

He holds up his hands and she looks at his gloved hand. "I'm alone Swan," he assures her, "Cora betrayed me,"

Emma smirks at him. "Not really surprised there, she is Regina's mother after all," she reasons, studying him. "Were you following me?"

"Following you?" he echoes, arching an eyebrow, "I heard that this is where you brought my crocodile. A strange city this is, this Manhattan,"

"It's a jewel," she muses sarcastically, remembering her bitter temper from before and the reason for her walk about.

Hook notices the sudden change in her mood and tentatively walks closer to her. "Is everything alright Emma?" he ventures.

Emma 's shoulders slump over and tears start streaming down her face and misting over her blue green eyes. Hook moves closer and steadies her shoulder with his hand, running it down to her back, gently massaging it. "Hey there beautiful," he whispers, "What is it?"

"I think I need a drink," she mutters, looking up at him with swollen eyes.

"I have some rum," he offers.

Emma makes a yuck face. "I am not drowning my sorrows on that poison," she retorts, "I saw a pub around the corner,"

She starts walking away from him, stops and turns around, looking curiously at him. "Are you coming or not?" she questions.

Hook shrugs and follows her.

Hook eyes the yellowish alcohol, glances at Emma and then to the glass in front of him. "It's called tequila," she says, "and it won't kill you, I promise Hook,"

"Says you," he retorts.

Emma grabs the bottle between them and pours herself a shot, then takes a good long sip, looking pointedly back at him. "See, not dead,"

He shrugs and finally takes a sip, then a longer one. "Not bad," he mutters, "for alcohol that looks like human excrement,"

Emma can't contain her laughter and he shakes his head. "You think that I'm a joke Swan?" he seethes.

"You were wary of Jello because you thought it was enchanted," she reminds him, still smirking.

"Food doesn't wobble," he retorts, relaxing and smiling at her before taking another long sip of his tequila which has gotten sweeter from the first. "So what was that about in the alley?"

She shrugs, looking curiously at him.

"The spontaneous crying," he reminds her, "I've never seen you so broken before Swan. Though traveling with the crocodile must bring a lot of baggage,"

"Baggage sucks," she slurs, "When I made the deal with Gold, I didn't think much of it at the time. I kept a mother from being separated from her child but now, I really wish I hadn't made the deal,"

Hook reaches over with his good hand and gently takes hers. "Emma, what happened?"

"We found Gold's son," she breathes slowly, "and he's - God, I really wish it wasn't him. Of all the people in the world, why did it have to be him?"

Hook doesn't say anything, recalling her admission in fairytale land about being in love once and he looks at her again, putting the pieces together. "He's your boy's father," he says, "Rumpelstiltskin's son is your son's father?"

"I spent eleven years not thinking about him, wanting to never see his face again and then I come here, chase him down and he's a fairytale character!" she cries, "And Henry won't talk to me because he knows that I lied to him. I had built this relationship with my son for a year and it was broken in mere seconds,"

"I'm sorry Emma," he breathes.

"I don't hate Gold like you do Hook," she continues, "but Henry's dad could have been anyone; I feel so used. I hated him for a long time because of what he did. Did you know he took the advice of my so-called protector, a former wooden puppet? When I get back to Storybrooke, the first thing I'm going to do is make a trip to the hardware store and hunt down August's wooden ass,"

"Rumple's boy is here in the city," Hook surmises, "I was planning on tracking down the crocodile and skinning him but I could make an allowance for his boy too, if you like; if you want me too, Emma,"

Emma smiles at him thoughtfully, bringing up her other hand and covering it over his. "That is a really sweet gesture Hook," she slurs and he smiles at her because she is very drunk now. "But I can't allow you to do that,"

"I'm nothing if not a romantic love," he offers.

"I still have a problem with Henry," she adds.

He shrugs. "The boy's twelve..."

"Eleven," Emma corrects.

"He'll get over it," Hook assures her, "He loves you; he went out of his way to find you. He'll forgive you this  
transgression,"

Emma wants to believe him but remembering his sharp comparison to Regina doesn't make her feel any better. She looks at Hook, her head still spinning and he reaches over to her, steadying her. "Easy darling," he soothes, "I love this tequila but something tells me, it wasn't a good idea for you to have some,"

She smiles at him bitterly. "I can hold my liquor for your information," she retorts, "but that's not what's bothering me now. You came to New York for your vengeance against Rumpelstiltskin,"

"That is generally why I'm here, love," he says flatly, "Good to know you still have you're still up to date on current events,"

"And I just told you that Henry is his grandson," she realizes, shying away from him. "Are you going to kill him too?"

He sits back, contemplating her question. Hook spent years plotting his revenge against his crocodile, followed leads about how he could kill him and anyone else connected to him, and now, here's Emma Swan and her boy, Henry. Despite their uneasy alliance back in fairytale world, he genuinely likes her and admires her devotion to her son, a young lad he hopes to meet one day.

Hook already hurt Belle and while it's tempting to hurt another branch of the Rumpelstiltskin's family tree, it would also hurt Emma and seeing how broken she is at the moment, how much worse would she be if her son ended up dead and he was the one responsible? She would hate him; Hell hath no fury like a mother's scorn.

He couldn't do that to Emma.

"Hook?" she cries again.

"Yes; I mean _**no**_," he corrects himself, taking another sip of his tequila. "Of course, I won't hurt your boy, Swan. All pirates follow a code of honor and I swear by that, I will never hurt your boy Henry because he is _yours_,"

"He's Neal's or Baelfire's too; I'm not even sure what to call him,"

He smiles at her. "I haven't had the pleasure of meeting your lad Henry but something tells me, he's all _you_, love," he teases.

She relaxes again, smiling back at him. "I love him so much; he's the sweetest, smartest little boy...and brave. Sometimes I wish I had half the courage that he has,"

"Sounds like a brave young lad,"

"He really is," she muses, looking at him. "I think that he would like you,"

That makes the pirate laugh. "Your parents don't like me; what makes you think that your son would be any different?"

She shrugs. "Because he's a boy and he likes adventure and I'm sure, you probably you've been on lots of them living in Neverland,"

"That I do lass but that is for another time," he reasons, standing up abruptly. "I've probably kept you too long from your boy..."

"And you need to get back to the revenge thing, which I absolutely will not let you get away with," she reminds him, smiling pointedly at him.

Hook mirrors her smile and removes handcuffs from his jacket, letting them dangle in his hand. "I figured that you probably didn't bring a pair with you," he says, "and I do know how you like having me bound up,"

Emma takes the cuffs from him and she snaps one around his wrist and the other on hers. "To ensure you don't run away from me," she says.

"Of course, I wouldn't expect anything less," he reasons, "Lead the way Swan,"

Emma tugs his closer by the cuff, making him breaths away from her face. "Thanks for the talk Hook and your promise that you won't hurt Henry," she whispers, "It really means a lot to me,"

"You have my word as a pirate, I will not hurt your boy, Emma," he promises.

"Thank you Killian," she says and the slip of his name sends chills down his spine; and he can see that it has the same effect on her which she quickly dismisses as she steps back and pulls him out of the pub.

"You taking me to my crocodile now?" he asks hopefully.

Emma smirks. "Not even close,"

He should have seen this coming, he really should have. Emma knows that bringing him to Rumpelstiltskin probably will not end well so she opts for temporarily putting him in custody of the NYPD.

Hook watches as Emma explains to the officer on duty that he's a dangerous man with the intent of killing someone she's currently traveling with and can't risk him getting close. That's all the officer needs before removing the cuff and locking him behind bars.

"I suppose one bad turn deserves another," he reflects, hanging his arms through the bars. "I trust that you'll be back to get me before you leave the city,"

Emma smiles at him, shoving her hands in her coat. "And you leave here with all these police? You start spewing out your fairytale world crap and they'll probably transfer you to a psychiatric hospital," she reasons, "Just stay out of trouble and be nice to the cops,"

He looks at the cell bars and then back to Emma. "These are very sturdy, I doubt I can break out," he reasons, "but you promise not to leave me again Emma?"

Emma sighs, recognizing that look and remembers how she left him atop the beanstalk. "I promise," she says and leaves the station.

"Then I will wait for your return, Emma," he promises, smiling. She shakes her head, leaving the station. As he watches leave, he notices some cops gathering in a corner, staring at him.

"Oye! What's this all about?"

"Who are you supposed to be? A pirate or something?" one of them asks, "Or are you auditioning for a play? Because pirates do not dress up like that,"

Hook rolls his eyes. "What do you bloody know about pirates?" he retorts, retreating to a corner in his cell. "Bloody cops,"

The End


End file.
